Health related quality of life and impact of infectious comorbidity in outpatient management of patients with acute leukemia

Abstract

Although survival has improved among patients with acute leukemia, there is still a considerable risk of severe complications throughout the course of treatment. This contrast increases the interest in monitoring health related quality of life (HRQOL) in these patients. This study presents a longitudinal HRQOL evaluation (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer core 30-item questionnaire; EORTC-QLQ C-30) and the impact of infectious comorbidity among 60 patients with leukemia (median age 47) treated in an outpatient management program at Copenhagen University Hospital. Significant improvement was seen on several HRQOL scores during follow-up. Explorative general linear models (GLMs) suggest that high cumulative severity of infectious comorbidity significantly reduces physical functioning and overall quality of life at treatment completion.

Keywords::

• Acute leukemia
• quality of life
• EORTC QLQ C-30
• outpatient management
• early discharge
• infection
• neutropenia
• comorbidity
• fatigue
• physical function

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the study participants, the staff and administration at the Department of Hematology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, and the University Hospitals Center for Nursing and Care Research, UCSF, in Denmark. This article is part of Tom Møller's PhD thesis that has received funding and grants from The Lundbeck Foundation, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Amgen Denmark, The University Hospitals Center for Nursing and Care Research, UCSF, The Foundation of Wedell Wedellsborg, The ANCOTRANS Donation, The Foundation of Family Hede Nielsen and The Foundation of Leukemia Research.

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